MONTGOMERY – Seven high school senior basketball standouts who were named MVPs in last week’s AHSAA Final 48 State Basketball Tournament headline the All-Star squads selected Wednesday to face Mississippi in the  20^th annual Alabama-Mississippi Classic March 19 at the Pelham Civic Complex.

                The girls game will tipoff at 5 p.m. and the boys game will follow at 7.

The teams report to Pelham Wednesday, March 17.

                Alabama holds a 10-9 edge in the boys series. The Alabama girls hold an 11-8 edge, including three wins in a row entering this year’s contest.

                The Alabama boys squad, selected by the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association’s Basketball All-Star Committee, selected Class 1A state tournament MVP Damien Carr to the 15-member team along with other state tournament MVPs Neiko Hunter of Greene County (3A), Ralph Floyd of Ramsay (4A) and Josh Langford of Lee-Huntsville (5A).

                Also named to the boys squad is University of Virginia early signee K.T. Harrell of Brewbaker Tech of Montgomery.

                Coaches for the Alabama squad are Ramsay’s Kelly Cheatham and Greene County’s Rodney Wesley. Cheatham’s Rams went 24-8 and beat Brewbaker Tech in the finals to claim the Class 4A championship last weekend in Birmingham. Wesley led Greene County’s Tigers to a 23-7 record and the Class 3A state championship with a win over Madison Academy in the finals.

                Coaching the Alabama girls team will be Reggie Ware of Midfield and Herbert Blackmon of J.F. Shields. Ware’s Lady Patriots (18-13) won the Class 4A title for the fourth consecutive year. Blackmon’s Lady Panthers won the Class 1A crown while finishing the season at 29-0 as the AHSAA’s only undefeated team in 2009-10.

                Three girls named to the Alabama all-star squad earned MVP awards at last week’s Final 48 tourney—Guards KaTia May of Sumter County (3A), Jazmine Saxton of Fairfield (5A) and Meghan Dunn of Hoover (6A)—and led their respective teams to state championships.
                Also named to the squad was Courtney Strain of Woodland, an Auburn signee who finished her prep career with 5,283 points as the AHSAA’s all-time scoring leader.